1987 318 LA

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Racingcowboy89

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I have a 1987 318 LA that I am building for a single cab 91 Dodge Dakota and I know it's not a A body Mopar. I seen a lot of 318 LA talk on these forums. From my understanding the horsepower rating and torque rating were low in them years, I was hoping if what I am putting in is going to definitely make a huge difference? I am putting the stock crank and rods back in the engine. I was going to get new flat top pistons for it. The camshaft question I have is the 1987 block had a flat tappet cam in it when I bought it, but is also set up for hydraulic roller cam. The hydraulic roller cam had a .390 lift on it and the Summit 6901 has a little bit higher lift on it. I wanting to run a aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm holley carb on it, and headers. Would the .390 hydraulic roller cam handle the aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm carb, and the headers or would I have to run the Summit 6901 camshaft? I was thinking the aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm, headers, and running electric fan would definitely put me over the 1987 HP and torque rating on the 318's that year? Also I have a set of the 318 LA 302 heads with the roller rockers, I was going to weld the smog holes, could I make any valve changes to them or would that be a no? Also any guess on what the compression ratio and the HP/torque rating would possibly put me at?
 

Racingcowboy89 said:
I have a 1987 318 LA that I am building for a single cab 91 Dodge Dakota and I know it's not a A body Mopar. I seen a lot of 318 LA talk on these forums. From my understanding the horsepower rating and torque rating were low in them years, I was hoping if what I am putting in is going to definitely make a huge difference? I am putting the stock crank and rods back in the engine. I was going to get new flat top pistons for it. The camshaft question I have is the 1987 block had a flat tappet cam in it when I bought it, but is also set up for hydraulic roller cam. The hydraulic roller cam had a .390 lift on it and the Summit 6901 has a little bit higher lift on it. I wanting to run a aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm holley carb on it, and headers. Would the .390 hydraulic roller cam handle the aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm carb, and the headers or would I have to run the Summit 6901 camshaft? I was thinking the aluminum intake manifold, 600 cfm, headers, and running electric fan would definitely put me over the 1987 HP and torque rating on the 318's that year? Also I have a set of the 318 LA 302 heads with the roller rockers, I was going to weld the smog holes, could I make any valve changes to them or would that be a no? Also any guess on what the compression ratio and the HP/torque rating would possibly put me at?
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Call Ken at Oregon Cam Grinding. He does a lot of small block Chrysler hydraulic roller set ups and he'll know what you can expect from your combination. We had a 625 carter on a 318 with the oem Hydraulic .375" lift cam and it ran well.
 
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let's start with: what's your budget and what are your expectations. like what do you want to do with the truck: cruiser. bruiser. stop light eliminator/burn out machine. etc etc etc.
 
junkyardhero said:
let's start with: what's your budget and what are your expectations. like what do you want to do with the truck: cruiser. bruiser. stop light eliminator/burn out machine. etc etc etc.
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It's a daily driver/weekend fun cruiser. It's not for racing or anything like that. It's a daily driver/weekend fun cruiser. I'm not wanting to go no more than 5700 rpm range. I just have to be able to use the 302 heads that came with.
 
A stock 318 is around 175hp (gross/dyno trim) doesn't take much to add 50-100 hp, power above that stock cr and heads are gonna hold it back, basic improvements (4bbl, RV cam, exhaust, tune etc..) should give good gains 30-60+%.
 
Racingcowboy89 said:
It's a daily driver/weekend fun cruiser. It's not for racing or anything like that. It's a daily driver/weekend fun cruiser. I'm not wanting to go no more than 5700 rpm range. I just have to be able to use the 302 heads that came with.
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With a mild cam 205 to 215 and stock 302 heads it will definitely make peak hp at lower rpms.
 
The single best thing you can do to a 318 is put a good piston in it, and have the machine shop deck em to zero. That puts you above what most other people do with them. I’d use a roller cam but not the stock one. Find a magnum engine at the junkyard and take Cam, lifters, lifter spider, and hardware. Send the cam to Oregon for a regrind to his 218-224 cam and put it together with the 302 heads, performer intake, and a 600 carb of your choice. That’ll crush the stock HP/TQ rating. You’ll probably be close to 240-260 hp.
 
i agree with @TT5.9mag on a good piston and zero decking the block. get some compression back in there. the 302 heads will help in this regard and will flow reasonably well for the application. performer or a stock 4bbl intake and a small 600~650 carb and you're set.

i always lean toward the smaller side on cams. you'll want something under the 450 lift range, and sub 260 duration. if you have the ability to go roller cam, then i would suggest that route. finding a suitable core and sending it to Oregon for a regrind is a great play.
 
If I had a block with provisions for a factory roller cam, I would never step back to a flat tappet setup.
 
An 87 should be a roller block and should have "302" heads.

...and it should already be at 9.2:1, and should measure out pretty close to that.

If it were me, I'd stick with a roller cam, upgrade the exhaust, intake and carb before I messed with the pistons.

My next target would be the heads as the 302 has pretty small valves.
 
So the stock .390 hydraulic roller cam would handle the pressure from the Weiand intake manifold, 600 cfm holley carb, and headers then?
 
Racingcowboy89 said:
So the stock .390 hydraulic roller cam would handle the pressure from the Weiand intake manifold, 600 cfm holley carb, and headers then?
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You are asking questions that point to you not necessarily understanding how these parts interact with each other. Thats ok, learning is part of the game. The cam doesn’t have to “handle the pressure from the intake or carb”. The cam spins and opens valves. The intake and carb are the path for fuel and air to enter the engine. Earth’s atmosphere provides the pressure. You can (but shouldn’t) stick any small block mopar camshaft in there and it will work. Some will be more optimal than others.
 
TT5.9mag said:
You are asking questions that point to you not necessarily understanding how these parts interact with each other. Thats ok, learning is part of the game. The cam doesn’t have to “handle the pressure from the intake or carb”. The cam spins and opens valves. The intake and carb are the path for fuel and air to enter the engine. Earth’s atmosphere provides the pressure. You can (but shouldn’t) stick any small block mopar camshaft in there and it will work. Some will be more optimal than others.
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Could you clarify that the Summit racing 6901 camshaft is basically a Mopar 340 cam spec?
 
Racingcowboy89 said:
Could you clarify that the Summit racing 6901 camshaft is basically a Mopar 340 cam spec?
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Why? Everyone here that you’ve asked is giving you excellent advice to use a roller cam, a reground stock roller from Oregon cams. But to answer your question the summit 6901 is a flat tappet of 276/288 218/228@050 .441 on a 114 lobe sep.
the stock 340 grind usually talked about is the 68 manual trans cam and that’s 276/284 .444/.453 the auto cam was 268/276 .430/.444. So nope, not the same. None of which I would recommend for your 318.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Why? Everyone here that you’ve asked is giving you excellent advice to use a roller cam, a reground stock roller from Oregon cams. But to answer your question the summit 6901 is a flat tappet of 276/288 218/228@050 .441 on a 114 lobe sep.
the stock 340 grind usually talked about is the 68 manual trans cam and that’s 276/284 .444/.453 the auto cam was 268/276 .430/.444. So nope, not the same. None of which I would recommend for your 318.
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Okay I will order the hydraulic roller cam and definitely put it in the block. With hydraulic roller cam you don't need zinc or do you? I know with flat tappet you got have zinc. Is there any exhaust tips you recommend for going through the side of the truck bed, that would sound good with the engine, headers, and blackwidow neighbor haters?
 
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Racingcowboy89 said:
Okay I will order the hydraulic roller cam and definitely put it in the block. With hydraulic roller cam you don't need zinc or do you? I know with flat tappet you got have zinc. Is there any exhaust tips you recommend for going through the side of the truck bed, that would sound good with the engine, headers, and blackwidow neighbor haters?
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Before you order anything sit down with an engine builder and come up with a plan. Maybe stop by your local machine shop and have a talk with them and ask if they’ll mentor you through a build. Sweep the floor for a few days for them and just watch/learn how things go together. Become friends with em. You’ll get a lifetime of knowledge. The last thing you should be thinking about at this point is what exhaust tips to use to poke through the bed. Again to answer your question, no roller cams don’t need added zinc in the oil.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Before you order anything sit down with an engine builder and come up with a plan. Maybe stop by your local machine shop and have a talk with them and ask if they’ll mentor you through a build. Sweep the floor for a few days for them and just watch/learn how things go together. Become friends with em. You’ll get a lifetime of knowledge. The last thing you should be thinking about at this point is what exhaust tips to use to poke through the bed. Again to answer your question, no roller cams don’t need added zinc in the oil.
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I can tell you I have rebuilt me my F250 460 engine. I just never have done any Mopar 318 engines. I only got hooked on the 318 when I bought my 1st Dodge Durango with a 318 Magnum in it, and then I saw Gary garage on YouTube race 600 hp 318 for drag racing. I wanting to give Mopar a chance, all I've known is Ford's. I picked up early this year a 1973 318 LA that was used for drag racing also that has concrete in the block, and then I bought the 1987 318 I wanted to build a fun daily driver engine out of it.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Before you order anything sit down with an engine builder and come up with a plan. Maybe stop by your local machine shop and have a talk with them and ask if they’ll mentor you through a build. Sweep the floor for a few days for them and just watch/learn how things go together. Become friends with em. You’ll get a lifetime of knowledge. The last thing you should be thinking about at this point is what exhaust tips to use to poke through the bed. Again to answer your question, no roller cams don’t need added zinc in the oil.
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I did call the Oregon Cam place yesterday he was telling me to put the .390 hydraulic roller cam in it.
 
Racingcowboy89 said:
I can tell you I have rebuilt me my F250 460 engine. I just never have done any Mopar 318 engines. I only got hooked on the 318 when I bought my 1st Dodge Durango with a 318 Magnum in it, and then I saw Gary garage on YouTube race 600 hp 318 for drag racing. I wanting to give Mopar a chance, all I've known is Ford's. I picked up early this year a 1973 318 LA that was used for drag racing also that has concrete in the block, and then I bought the 1987 318 I wanted to build a fun daily driver engine out of it.
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Awesome! Experience is good. And it don’t matter if it’s Ford, Chevy, Mopar or any other make, screwing them together is similar. But you should come up with a plan that’ll meet all of your goals and then execute the plan instead of randomly buying stuff because some guy on the internet told you to.
 
Racingcowboy89 said:
I did call the Oregon Cam place yesterday he was telling me to put the .390 hydraulic roller cam in it.
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That’s a stock cam. If you want stock performance then the stock cam is perfect. If you want more performance you’ll need more camshaft.
 
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